New floor in the engine room

I may have mentioned, I have never thought the engine room has looked really finished off properly so I took a couple of days to lay a new laminate flooring - the same as the rest of the boat. The original flooring was a thick ply with a very dark brown waterproof surface; all very practical but not the best thing to look at. This photo shows the floor with the middle section already removed. This allows access to the engine itself.

I then set about laying and sticking down the 3mm underseal to the original flooring to provide a bit of noise insulation (not much though) and also a soft bed for the laminate floor to lay on. I then cut and fitted the flooring, leaving the final cutting and planing until it was all fixed in place. A few strategically placed panel pins held the whole floor in place. Fitting it all together again was a doddle as it was simply fixed to the old floor.

I was pleased with the overall result. It is a lot lighter, complements the light yellow tongue and groove walls and ceiling, and will be just as practical as the old floor.  It's even looks like a single solid floor now as the laminate boards hide the joins between the panels.

I then spent time, doing the same to the stairs and finishing off the edges to hold it all in place until I ran out of battens and mouldings. Once it's finished it should look as good as the rest of Skylark and will 'feel' part of the boat rather than just that grubby bit at the back where I keep all the tools and boaty gear.

The stairs, showing work in progress...

 

I spent two whole days doing this - that amounts to at least five hours of hard practical work interspersed with eating, drinking and lying down on the job (no change there then) - and then I went home to recover from my exertions.

 

 

When I got home I found my new purchase lying in its box, on the floor, exactly where Kay had thrown it - a French concert size Ukulele. I intend to add this to my expanding list of hobbies. After all, I can't sit around all day writing Blogs.